Just another new guy here.....bit of a mind block on the intro here.....I usually post in car related forums, . Might as well ramble away.....

My name's Brandon, I'm 27 and from Saskatchewan. I spent 5 years working in the oilfield as a wireline operator. 3.5 years of that was based out of Alberta and involved a lot of travel into the northwestern part of Alberta and into BC. The last year and a half was closer to home in southeast Sask. I started in the oilfield with a tentative 5 year plan, slowly grew to hate my job over the years. No where really felt like home, the work consumed my life, was wearing my body down and got in the way of the things I enjoyed to do. I started looking for a change last fall, and got called for an interview 1 day after my 5 year anniversary with my company. Talk about timing. I ended up getting the job, and now work at a potash mine an hour from home. It makes for long days when I am working but the big upside is working less than half the year.

As for my personal life, I'm single and plan to stay that way. I'm an introvert, generally like my space and quiet time as well as the freedom to do as I please. My hobbies are weightlifting, fishing, motorcycles (dual sport and motocross), automotive restoration (doing a frame off on a 69 GMC), air brushing to some extent, cooking, and watching CFL football (Go Riders!). This past spring I looked after my brother's dog for a couple of weeks while he was on holidays. After she went home I found myself missing having a dog around. I didn't give it a whole lot of thought at the time, but a few weeks later I found myself browsing the dog classifieds on kijiji just to see. I gave a bit of thought to what I wanted. I felt due to my schedule it would be best to adopt a trained adult dog as house training a puppy would likely be quite difficult. A couple I lived with for a year while in Alberta had a young female boxer and I thought she was an all around awesome dog, and my goal was to find a dog similar to her.

And then I trip across Iris one day while searching kijiji. She was described as being a 3 year old boxer/pit mix and was being fostered through a dog rescue in Regina. I read through the ad and thought that she really seemed like the dog for me. Everything about her seemed like what I wanted in a dog, and I even felt some connection to the fact that she was deaf (I'm hearing impaired to some extent as well, I no longer have my left ear drum). Then I read through the adoption process and found it to be almost overwhelming. I procrastinated for about a week but everytime I was browsing kijiji I would see her picture and just had this nagging feeling like she was the one, so I finally decided to inquire about her. By time I got the adoption application filled out, I found out there were already 2 applications being processed ahead of mine. I felt like I had missed out on a great opportunity. I kept browsing kijiji over the next few weeks and a lot of adult boxers starting showing up. There were a few I was interested and I had planned to visit a few on my next set of days off. And then I got the e-mail that both applications for Iris ahead of mine had fallen though. The process took a couple of weeks before I finally got to meet Iris. She's been stuck to me like glue ever since, and there is never a dull moment with her around! The lady that fostered her managed to track her history back a bit through some info shared by somebody who saw her picture in the classified ad. It was quite a long, drawn out story. She's been adopted through the SPCA twice, and was bounced around from one household to the next many times. If I remember the story correctly, the last time she was found by highway workers as a stray in the ditch and they believe she had a bullet wound on her back end. Knowing her personality, it is truely an unbelievable story. People must have been frustrated by not knowing how to handle a deaf dog.

Iris had ended up being exactly the dog I wanted. She is full of energy but also loves being a couch potato. I think if she could spend every minute of the day by my side she would. The screens on my windows are all torn up because if I am out in the yard she just stands there watching me. She absolutely loves people, and despite getting a bit pushy at times she is very gentle even with kids. Despite being deaf she follows hand signals well in the house and yard. Beyond that she is hit and miss, but we are working on it. Part of the problem is she seems over-stimulated by sights and smells while we are out on walks and it is hard to get her full attention. I've been working with a vibrating collar both on walks and at the dog park (I only go during the day when nobody is there) and it has helped quite a bit so far. So far she seems to enjoy going fishing as it usually involves a bit of a nature walk. She took to going rollerblading quickly (she loves to run). Going to the dog park is an absolute blast for her. She used to enjoy tearing my back yard up where I was trying to grow grass. I decided to put sod in and made it a bit of an obstacle course to slow her down a bit, hopefully it works.

As for the question mark next to the boxer part of the title, I'm curious if others here would agree with that mix based on her pictures? I've done some browsing and it seems like I've found quite a few Boxer-AmStaff crosses that look like her. She has a similar physique to the boxer I spoke of previously, but is a couple inches shorter and a bit more muscular. She has the droopy eyes, and certainly plays like a boxer.